[quote=ragebot][quote=MN3][quote]Thing is in this vid at about the 3:50 mark Prindle shows up and seems to be walking away from the L7. All the tris like Weta, Searail, L7, and Fboats are probably twice the price of something like an older Hobie, Prindle, NACRA, and similar beach cats.[/quote]
well yea, a 400 lb catamaran with more sail to weight ratio is gonna have lots of get-up-and-go on tri but when you start getting into bigger tris (30') a beachcat can't touch it's speed
plus L7 are homebuilds correct? so no way of knowing how the build quality is
and every boat has it's preferred wind range - some kill it in light air (comparatively), some kill it in heavier air, some bigger boats will win because they have tall rigs that will get air that others have windage ... so 1 clip of a race doesn't mean all that much
my friend has a f-31R - it's huge (45' mast, 23'beam) -it's a rocket ship but weighs a few tons
need an f-250 to move it around the lot
Yes your gonna pay more for a carbon fiber anything vs a 20 year old prindle/hobie/dart/anything
you stated"Budget is flexible depending on what I consider a good deal. Right now I am looking at an older DragonFly 25 " - so i thought you were open to some "real boat" costs and your not getting into any F-boat for cheap
SNIP [/quote]
Lots of terms being used don't really have hard and fast definitions. "Beach cat" is a great example. I would say all the Hobie cats are beach cats, along with a lot of what I would say is true for most under 22' cats (there are some pocket cruiser cats with cabins that are under 22' but they are few and far between). I am not sure how to define something like a Reynolds 33 (or even the older Macgregor 36); both are open deck with tramps. While the Macgregor had some issues the Reynolds is still capable of being a gunboat in lots of races and consistently beats any fboat. I have sailed on C24, C27 and C31 and none of them would be faster than the Reynolds; and I doubt they would beat a well sailed Prindle 19 or a good Nacra. The A Class beach cats would also run away from them.
The fastest I have ever sailed on was a home built F39 which hit 22 knots. Of course there was a crew of 5 and the owner said he would not feel comfortable with less crew. Thing is the Reynolds can easily match that speed with fewer crew; and is easy to trailer and ramp launch.
Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fboat fan. Ian was the man who created tris that performed well and could be quickly and easily moved from a trailer to water; there is a reason there are more Corsair tris than all other production tris combined. But fboats are not really known for their speed compared to more high tec tris of the same length; some folks think they are over weight.
I have never been on, or even seen, a Dragonfly. They are not really that common and due to their quality build demand a quality price. The older ones often have issues with soft spots and the non folders can have issues with how the cross beams connect. They seem to offer more creature comforts than fboats and are somewhat heavier and not as fast. While I did consider them early on I have come to view them like a unicorn, attractive but almost impossible to find.
One of the more interesting tris I have come across (and one of the rarer ones) is the [url=Catri]Catri[/url]https://catri24.com/for-sale. It is a perfect example of what you call preferred wind range. In most wind speeds a C24 will beat it, but if the wind gets above 20 knots and the foil assist kicks in it can easily exceed 20 knots and the designer has legit claims it has hit 27knots+. It also has a huge advantage of no centerboard trunk in the cabin, not to mention standing head room below.
A big reason most of what you call a 'real boats' measure their numbers in the hundreds and the beach cats measure their numbers in the hundreds is what I will call 'bang for the buck'. Some times for less than $US1,000 and often less than $US5,000 you can get a viable beach cat you can keep in your back yard, trailer to the water, set it up and go for a day sail or camp cruise for a weekend. It is hard to find a real boat you can do that on for less than $US20,000; and a new one will probably be three times that or more.
For me it was worth getting a 'real boat'; even if I had to pay a lot more than $US20,000. My claim to fame with my Seawind 1000 is that when google streetview came to the Dry Tortugas my cat was anchored off the North Coal Dock and they captured it of posterity.
[url]https://www.instantstreetview.com/@24.628119,-82.872038,62.85h,-5.09p,1z[/url][/quote]
